Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
Radu-Daniel LOGHIN
Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
AN ETYMOLOGICAL
APPROACH TO THE
MOLDAVIAN CHART OF
ACCOUNTS
Empirical
studies
Keywords
Chart of accounts,
Linguistics,
Accounting,
Moldova
JEL Classification
M40, M41, Z19
Abstract
Empirical research in accounting history can help the scholar gain a better insight into the various cultural
influences that shape the reasoning of accounting professionals. An empirical approach to accounting
history can provide an additional dimension to the context which shapes the underlying principles and
practices. This paper proposes an etymological analysis performed on the chart of accounts from the
Republic of Moldova since March 2015, with the purpose of identifying the various layers of the
accounting terminology and their probable corresponding periods in history. The research reveals a
surprising linguistic profile which has not been influenced significantly by the Soviet Union, with major
influences being drawn from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
125
Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
INTRODUCTION
Research in accounting history is more than a
historical analysis of differences in policy-making
and standard-setting. Accounting professionals
convey more than numbers to their customers, they
convey a narrative. And the narratives are exposed
to various cultural and social factors.
The history of accounting narratives is drawn
mainly from archival research methods, which
build a narrative through the exploration of major
manuscripts and personalities (Ionascu, 2015).
While fundamental to the formulation of
hypotheses and debating points of doctrine, an
empirical approach is nonetheless useful for the
historical scientific enterprise.
Empirical approaches can be done by applying
quantitative methods to the underlying accounting
terminology, such as etymological analyses of the
accounting texts. Etymological analyses are an
integral part of linguistics, and while rarely covered
by the scientific literature, they nerveless bridge the
gap between accounting and other social sciences.
With regards to the scientific literature which
covers aspects concerning both linguistics and
accounting, there is significant progress in the field.
Such contributions include Sydserff & Weetman’s
(1999) applied linguistics experiment into the
reading of accounting narratives, Sydserff &
Weetman’s (2002) forays into computer‐based
analysis of accounting narratives as well as
Macintosh & Baker’s (2002) depiction of
accounting reports and information as texts rather
than as economic commodities.
Significant efforts involving historical linguistics
and accounting have also been made by Richard
(2002) to uncover the origins of the very notion of
„accounting”.
As such, it is apparent that the international
literature has helped to considerably bridge the gap
between linguistics and accounting. However,
when it comes to Romania, such a scientific
literature is largely underdeveloped as a complete
Romanian etymological dictionary is currently
unavailable. B.P. Hasdeu, the only Romanian
linguist who has ever pursued an etymological
dictionary has only managed to finish the third
volume of the series at the letter B (Tabacu, 2007).
The approach outlined in this paper is a novel one,
and it draws on the Romanian vocabulary used by
accountants in the Republic of Moldova, the only
major independent state which uses Romanian as
an official language besides Romania proper.
While there was previous interest in the Moldavian
accounting culture, the research mainly focused on
national regulations and economic conditions
(Alexander & Ghedrovici, 2013).
The research paper draws from Ionascu’s (2015)
history of accounting in Romania, with
considerations for the peculiarities of the
126
Moldavian
context.
Superimposing
the
etymological map on the chronology we obtain a
quantitative expression of the historical changes
which affected Moldavian bookkeeping practices
and their influence today.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
While both Romania and The Republic of Moldova
share much of their history and culture, accounting
professionals in the Republic of Moldova have
made their own unique contributions to the
Romanian accounting culture.
When dealing with accounting history prior to
1812, which is relevant for the Republic of
Moldova, it is important to consider that the
Principality of Moldova had an important influence
over the administrative affair in current day
Transnistria and Little Russia, through historical
personalities such as Danylo Apostol (the so called
Dănilă Apostol in Romanian language) who
contributed to the socio-economic development of
the Cossacks (Plokhy, 1992)
From the period of the principality there is a
multitude of accounting records, mainly inventories
of estates kept by the boyar aristocracy (Dumitru
Iacob, D. (ed), 2015). Such records are valuable in
identifying key terms preserved by the Romanian
accounting glossary into the modern era.
Accounting concepts like revenue (venit, Rom.) are
present.
The common features of the Romanian and
Moldavian accounting cultures will be retained
until 1812, when through the Treaty of Bucharest
Bessarabia in its entirety is incorporated into the
Russian Empire (Ismail, 1979).
For the following century, a major part of the
historical province will remain under Russian
administration. Russian influence on the accounting
profession of Bessarabia is hard to identify in an
appropriate manner, since through the XIX century
an indigenous accounting profession was lacking in
the Russian Empire (Owen, 2002) for large-scale
operations, at least.
One possible explanation for the inadequate
development of the Moldavian accounting
profession under the Russian Empire could lie with
the centralization of power which occurred during
the formation period of the Russian Empire. Unlike
the United Kingdom, where the economic power of
the monarchy recedes gradually after the reign of
Queen Elisabeth the First (Calabresi & Price,
2012), the Russian tsars manage to consolidate
considerable economic power. Such developments
encourage the emergence of the “prikaz”
accounting system, which emphasised the state as a
prime user of financial statements (Olearius &
Baron, 1967).
Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
Despite the strong Russian grip, a fraction of the
province
came
briefly
under
Romanian
administration after the Treaty of Paris between
1856 and 1878 (Duminica, 2011), namely the
Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail counties. These
accountants from these counties shall be exposed to
the most recent Romanian improvements in
accounting of the day.
During this period, Romania will adopt
Commercial and Civil Codes inspired almost
entirely by the French legal system. The most
respected foreign population at the time by
Romanians ware the French (Ozanne, 1878/2015).
While L. Toussaint worked on a translation of the
French accounting curriculum, Th. Stefanescu
provides a Romanian theoretical work in
accounting with a major French influence (Ionascu,
2015).
The territorial changes brought by the War of
Independence in 1878, bring with them an
interruption of the Romanian influence on
Moldavian accounting affairs. From 1878 to 1918
all of Bessarabia will be administrated by the
Russian Empire.
The reunification with Romania on the 9th of April
1918 achieves the integration for the major part of
the future Republic of Moldova. Among the
benefits of reunion are the emergence of CECCAR
in 1921 (Fotache & Pavaloaia, 2015) which
provides a formal organization to the budding
Moldavian accounting profession. Bessarabia also
captures the influence of Petrescu’s and TrancuIasi’s literature, which are inspired by
developments in French and Italian accounting
thought (Ionascu, 2015).
Meanwhile, across the Dniester River the Soviets
developed a standardized accounting system with
significant advances, such as the chart of accounts
published in 1929 (Richard, 1995). These changes
also affected the small Moldavian Socialist
Republic with the capital of Balta, which the
Soviets hoped to reunite with Bessarabia.
After 28th of June 1940, the Moldavian Socialist
Republic and Bessarabia ware merged into a single
political entity inside the Soviet Union. During
Operation Barbarossa Bessarabia was briefly
reunited with Romania and the Moldavian Socialist
Republic was governed by a Romanian
administration.
Afterwards, Bessarabia (the Republic of Moldova)
would be annexed by the Soviet Union until
Moldova declared independence in 1991. During
the Soviet period, Moldova witnesses the
maturation and decline of the Soviet accounting
system. The lifting of cultural barriers comes also
by adopting a Latin script in place of the Soviet
Cyrillic alphabet.
The accounting reform in the Republic of Moldova
began with key personalities as well as foreign
financial aid. With respect to the key personalities,
we might consider the decisive contribution of Paul
Bran to the joint development of ASE Bucharest
and ASE Moldova (Ghinculov, S. (ed.);, 2010),
institutions which have made a significant
contribution in the cultural exchanges between
auditors and accountants on the banks of the Prut
River, mainly by promoting the Romanian
accounting practices among Moldavian undergrad
and grad students.
Foreign assistance was also a deciding factor in the
emergence of a Moldavian accounting culture. This
came mainly through USAID’s MARP program,
and oversaw the development of 23 national
accounting standards based upon the International
Accounting Standards (Armitage, Neider, &
Shelaru, 2003). The accounting reform is still an
ongoing process.
THE LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO
ACCOUNTING HISTORY
The comprehensive analysis of the accounting
terminology used by professionals in the Republic
of Moldova is a daunting challenge, since it
involves an analysis of the entire accounting
curriculum.
However, the most important source for an
accounting glossary is the full chart of accounts,
since the purpose of a chart of accounts is to help
standardize and organize the bookkeeping process,
which concentrates all major types of assets,
liabilities, and equities. Thus the source used for
analysis is the Moldavian “Nomenclatorul
Conturilor Contabile”, as approved through the
Ministry of Finance’s Order 26/2015 (File id:
Plan_1534).
An overview of the document reveals its
foundations upon the old Soviet chart of accounts,
with expenses and revenue arranged by destination,
rather than nature as in the French-inspired
Romanian chart of accounts.
Another note is that the document is written in
Romanian using the Latin script. Besides the Latin
script, the citizens of Moldova also use the Russian
language in administrative affairs, while in
separatist-controlled areas only the Cyrillic script is
in use.
From the document, all words ware extracted,
except prepositions like “pe”, “de”, etc. Then
derived adjectives, verbs, adverbs and nouns of a
word ware eliminated to ensure only unique forms
remained in the list. For instance the pair
“corporale/necorporale” was reduced to one term
“corporale”. Roots ware preserved where the
meaning was jeopardized.
Thus, a total of 262 unique terms was compiled
from the 13th page extended chart of accounts.
Then, the etymology of each word was investigated
with the help of dictionaries. The main source used
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Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
was the Dictionary of the Modern Romanian
Language (Institutul de Lingvistica din Bucuresti,
1958) , whose etymologies have also been used
extensively for online dictionaries such as
Dexonline. For a more comprehensive Latin
understanding of the word, specialized dictionaries
ware used such as The Etymological Dictionary of
the Romanian Language (Candrea & Densusianu,
1907) and The complete English-Latin dictionary;
for the use of colleges and schools (Riddle, 1838).
Etymologies ware thus collected for each unique
word. Where the origins of the words ware
conflicting, the oldest possible origin was
considered to be the correct one, if it was possible
for the Romanian professionals to have prior
knowledge of the term before the borrowing
allegedly took place.
For instance, ”reducere” was considered of Latin
origin, since the verb was derived into a noun, with
a similar meaning to the French one. Wherever the
term used is not a new concept, like the French
loan-word “regim” (regime, Eng.), the origins ware
considered to be Latin. When the origins ware
unclear and no specific argument could be about
the origins of the word, a joint origin is considered.
When dealing with a term designating a branch of
Science such as Economy or Biology, since the
term is coined from Greek words such as “bios”
and “logos”, a distinct classification is done
separately from the others, with a st. abbreviation.
Regarding terms with Balkan etymologies such as
Neogreek “lipsa” (lack, Eng.) a local etymology
“ea” was developed to group the Sprachbund
influences. The Balkan Sprachbund includes
Romanian, Aromanian, Greek, Serbian, and
Bulgarian, as well as other Balkan languages and
dialects (Tomic, 2006) The Greek Orthodox
Church and intermarriages with the Fanariote
dynasties might have contributed to the
development of the Sprachbund features. Terms
with unknown etymologies such as strain (stranger,
Eng.), but with possible Latin or Greek origins
(extraneus, Lat.) are also considered to be a part of
the local etymology.
Old Slav terms are considered their distinct
category while the obvious English loan-words the
origin ware identified as English. Overall, 10
simple categories were drawn, of which 9 have a
direct correspondence with living or dead
languages, one represents a neutral category for
scientific terms coined in the modern era, and one
pools together words with an unknown or Balkan
Sprachbund etymology. These combine to generate
21 unique possible combinations of origins. The
combinations follow the existing abbreviations in
the DEX, with the exception of the ea. and st.
abbreviations, which are an innovation for the
purpose of the paper. The frequencies ware
compared with the known accounting literature
within The Republic of Moldova, and used to
128
explain the relative influence of historical periods
described in the paper. The periods proposed for
the analysis ware the periods of the Moldavian
principality (prior to 1812), the periods of
Romanian administrations and the Period of
Independence after 1991.
RESULTS
The first result confirms that the Moldavian
language does not exist as a separate Romance
language distinct from Romanian, since all the
terms used in the Chart of Accounts ware covered
by the dictionary. Thus there is no language barrier
between Romanian accounting professionals and
Moldavian accounting professionals.
The second finding is important, since it supports a
Latin origin of the Romanian people and a
significant Slav influence on the Romanian
language. Though the Old Slavic glossary is small
(barely 2% of the total), it covers important terms
such as interest (dobanda, Rom.) and payment
(plata, Rom.). Since Latin, Sprachbund and Old
Slav terms ware available before the annexation of
Bessarabia by Russia, they could be considered
earlier than the French translations, amounting to
22, 1% of the total.
An alternative hypothesis would also place a large
portion of the Latin terminology into the XIXth
century, and reflect a boom in the accounting
terminology occurring after 1948. Still, the
inheritance is significant and reveals that the
concepts of interest, revenue and expenses were
known to the early modern accountants as a basis
for further developments.
Loan-words from the XIX and XX centuries
represent 75.6% of the total, with nearly half falling
into the category of Latin terms imported through
French translations into the Romanian language.
Lastly, English and French-English terms amount
to 2, 2% of the total. These terms are associated
heavily with promotional activities and intangible
assets, such as the know-how.
A surprising implication for the research process is
that the Russian influence over the language used
in the Chart of Accounts is minimal, and limits
itself to terms which are older than the Soviet
Union itself. The other possible borrowings also
have multiple possible sources.
The profile painted in Table 1, reveals a strong
knowledge of accounting terms before the
annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire,
coupled with a minimum cultural influence during
the Russian period of occupation. This period also
witnesses major Western European influences from
the two periods of Romanian administration (18561878 and 1918-1945). Pure Anglo-Saxon influence
is minimal, at best, with only 2% of the total,
despite the efforts of the USAID.
Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of accounting professionals is to
provide more than quality financial statements for
decision-making. The purpose of accounting is to
build trust among the different stakeholders and
shareholders who offer legitimacy to the
accounting profession.
By better understanding differences in language,
accounting professionals can augment their
narratives to provide a clearer picture to the laymen
and thus promote social harmony at the
microeconomic level.
The limits of the study refer to the sampling
technique used which favoured only a small part of
the overall accounting curriculum, which is
represented by Chart of Accounts. For a clearer
picture, an analysis covering other textual sources
and “museums of words”” is recommended. Also,
specialized charts of accounts, such as those of
governmental and financial institutions could
reveal different results.
Further research could use similarity coefficients
across countries to better underlie differences in
language and possible common ground between
practitioners.
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Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
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Cross-Cultural Management Journal
Volume XVIII, Issue 2 (10) / 2016
ANNEXES
Appendix A
Table No.1
Major sources of accounting terminology found in the Moldavian chart of accounts
Origins
Proposed period
Number of individual words
latfr
Period of Romanian administrations
94
fritgerm
Period of Romanian administrations
2
frit
Period of Romanian administrations
4
latfrrus
Period of Romanian administrations
1
fr
Period of Romanian administrations
68
frgerm
Period of Romanian administrations
10
eng
Independence period
5
sl
The Moldavian principality period
5
lat
The Moldavian principality period
44
it
Period of Romanian administrations
4
itgerm
Period of Romanian administrations
1
st
Period of Romanian administrations
3
germ
Period of Romanian administrations
3
itfr
Period of Romanian administrations
3
ea
The Moldavian principality period
9
freng
Period of Romanian administrations
1
latrusgerm
Period of Romanian administrations
1
latit
Period of Romanian administrations
1
latfrgerm
Period of Romanian administrations
1
frrus
Period of Romanian administrations
1
ruspol
The Moldavian principality period
1
Source (own research based on the analysis of the dictionaries)
Percentage
35,9%
0,8%
1,5%
0,4%
26,0%
3,8%
1,9%
1,9%
16,8%
1,5%
0,4%
1,1%
1,1%
1,1%
3,4%
0,4%
0,4%
0,4%
0,4%
0,4%
0,4%
131